Did WotC Pay Critical Role to Drop Daggerheart?

Critical Role shocked fans by announcing Campaign 4 will use Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024 instead of their own Daggerheart system. But why?
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Critical Role’s decision to use Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024 instead of their own Daggerheart for Campaign 4 has left fans divided. Officially, Marisha Ray claimed that D&D “best supports the story they want to tell”—but many argue that sounds like corporate PR spin. After all, why spend years developing a TTRPG like Daggerheart if it can’t support Critical Role’s style of storytelling? The cast and designers are professionals; learning a new system wouldn’t be a hurdle. By choosing D&D, they miss a massive opportunity—millions of weekly viewers could have fueled excitement, boosted sales, and cemented Daggerheart as a competitor to D&D. So why not? The real reason looks like money. Sponsorships, D&D Beyond tie-ins, and an ongoing relationship with Wizards of the Coast are easy, low-risk income streams compared to printing and shipping books. Fans also speculate it’s a safer, battle-tested choice: Brennan Lee Mulligan is a master of 5e, D&D is familiar, and Daggerheart is still unproven for long campaigns. Either way, Critical Role’s “West Marches” setup—actually three concurrent campaigns—will keep the table fresh, but the choice to drop Daggerheart may say more about business strategy than storytelling.

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